Over a 37-year career at Commonwealth Edison, Cordell Reed went from an entry-level engineer to senior vice president, along the way heading the company’s nuclear power unit.

“I’m certain he was the first African-American to get his nuclear operator’s license at ComEd,” said Frank Clark, retired ComEd chairman and CEO and now president of the Chicago Board of Education. “He may have been the first in the nation.”

John Hooker, a former ComEd executive who is now chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority board of commissioners, said Reed came into the company as one of the first African-Americans to be hired as an engineer. “He worked his way up to head the largest business unit, the nuclear division.”

Clark said Reed had a rare ability to focus on both his job and the people around him. “Somehow he balanced both,” Clark said. “Cordell reached back to help people.”

Reed, 79, died Dec. 4 of natural causes in his Chicago home, according to his wife, Bernice.

Reed grew up in the Ida B. Wells Homes on the city’s South Side. After graduating from what was then Tilden Technical High School, he went on to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He later earned a master’s degree in the same field there.

After graduating in 1960, he started with ComEd, now part of Exelon, as an engineer assigned to the design, construction and operation of coal-fired generating stations. In 1967 he transferred to the nuclear division and in 1975 was appointed manager of the nuclear engineering department, where he headed a group of engineers responsible for the engineering design of all nuclear projects.

In 1979 he became chief nuclear officer for the company with responsibilities for the operation, engineering, construction and technical support services for the company’s nuclear power plants, eventually six in number. He continued in that post for 13 years.

In 1987 he became a senior vice president. During the last few years of his career he also served as chief ethics officer and chief diversity officer. He retired from Commonwealth Edison in 1997.

His concern for diversity was a hallmark, Clark said. He also was involved in the industry’s response to the 1979 Three Mile Island accident, according to Irene Johnson, who worked for Reed and called him her mentor.

“Cordell was tasked with leading the industry response to this event,” Johnson said in remarks at Reed’s funeral. “He became an expert in severe accident management and helped develop policies, procedures and federal rule-making to ensure public safety post-TMI. Many of these changes are still in place and continue to protect the health and safety of the public.”

Mike Reeves, who worked at Peoples Gas, said Reed “was successful because he blended his technical skills with his social and human skills to get some tough tasks done.”

Reed’s people skills, Reeves said, extended “from the boardroom to the boiler room.”

Reed was involved with many professional and community organizations. He was an honorary trustee of the Shedd Aquarium and chairman of the board of what is now the Chicago State Foundation. The Cordell Reed Student Union at Chicago State University was named in his honor in 2001.

“One of the things he helped to teach us was you’ve got to give back,” Hooker said.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by sons Derrick, Barry, Brian, Steven and Michael; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.